Maybe the original post has a point about communication, but in the wrong way...
What if the problem with engineering education is not poor communication of concepts to students, but poor development of communication skills in engineers?
Most of the best paying jobs (doctor lawyer consultant manager etc..) don't necessarily emphasize original thought, but all of them emphasize communication. These professions also attract more girls, not entirely by coincidence.
Instead of pumping out many students with basic (and, apparently, quite poor) training in engineering skills, perhaps engineering schools should focus on turning out well-rounded people with the ability to communicate?
The solution might be to make engineering into a 2-3 year professional degree, with a set of courses that emphasize professional/communication skills in addition to engineering ones, and a required math/science undergrad set of courses (e.g. med school) to give people the basic theoretical foundation they need to handle the engineering stuff.
This would also have the benefit of producing fewer (and hopefully better) engineers, which would give engineering a little bit of the cachet required to attract some of the talented all-rounders (and girls) who might be dropping out now, and push salaries up as these new grads replace some of the MBAs now running engineering firms.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe the original post has a point about communication, but in the wrong way...
What if the problem with engineering education is not poor communication of concepts to students, but poor development of communication skills in engineers?
Most of the best paying jobs (doctor lawyer consultant manager etc..) don't necessarily emphasize original thought, but all of them emphasize communication. These professions also attract more girls, not entirely by coincidence.
Instead of pumping out many students with basic (and, apparently, quite poor) training in engineering skills, perhaps engineering schools should focus on turning out well-rounded people with the ability to communicate?
The solution might be to make engineering into a 2-3 year professional degree, with a set of courses that emphasize professional/communication skills in addition to engineering ones, and a required math/science undergrad set of courses (e.g. med school) to give people the basic theoretical foundation they need to handle the engineering stuff.
This would also have the benefit of producing fewer (and hopefully better) engineers, which would give engineering a little bit of the cachet required to attract some of the talented all-rounders (and girls) who might be dropping out now, and push salaries up as these new grads replace some of the MBAs now running engineering firms.